


An Agreement.

by Local_Hypno_Fruit



Category: Xenoblade Chronicles
Genre: Alvis is mentioned quite a lot, Dimension Travel, Outer Space, Redemption, This was a birthday gift writing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-11
Updated: 2020-07-11
Packaged: 2021-03-04 22:08:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,105
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25193686
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Local_Hypno_Fruit/pseuds/Local_Hypno_Fruit
Summary: “Startled? I was, too, when I discovered this place still very much existed.”Shulk wasn’t sure if the voice or the environment he was trapped within had caused more of the fear that wracked his body, yet his eyes darted about in the starry void around him, body finally moving for the purpose of observation.“Please, dear Shulk, no need to be alarmed. I can no longer bring you harm because of you and that… No longer existent blade.”
Relationships: Shulk & Zanza (Xenoblade Chronicles)
Kudos: 29





	An Agreement.

**Author's Note:**

  * For [tuscanaa](https://archiveofourown.org/users/tuscanaa/gifts).



> Yo, guys, what if Zanza had a redemption arc in the original Chronicles AND a healthy relationship with Shulk? Wild.

Time always got away from Shulk, no matter how much he attempted to focus upon mixing his needs with his work. Even after all that has passed, even after this whole ‘recreation of a world without Gods’ business, Shulk still couldn’t find it in his clearly very busy schedule to add an inch of self-care into his routine. Fiora had added the idea of setting an alarm for when he needed to eat, which helped at times, but more often than not the mechanic shut it off and forgot the incessant sound’s meaning.

Setting down some sort of separation tool upon the counter that beheld one of his many unfinished projects, Shulk gave a heavy sigh. Looking away from the hunk of metal that he had been altering and rewiring for the past… However long it had been… It only now struck the blonde that he’d worked from dawn till dusk without so much as a single step outside of his home. There was a moment of anxiety that his friends had been worried for his lack of appearance outside, but he rationalized it out moments later. This wasn’t the first time he’d spend an eternity inside, and it certainly wouldn’t be the last, so this was normalcy. No need for worries. 

Stretching himself out and turning away from his work, Shulk figured now was a good time to close the curtains. After all, he might just let the bugs in. Bugs… Just the thought of something larger than a basic moth gave him a disgusted chill down his spine. So, with prompting of his own thoughts, he carried himself over to the nearby window within his little tinkering room. There was only one to close, the others being kept that way since they were only open to keep the flow of air and ether going through the house. Though, upon reaching out of his home to grab the window that hung outside… 

The cosmos spread out before him. Nothing of the regular old dirt and soil, only fleeting flickering of stars and meshing colors of galaxies. Blue eyes widening in panic, Shulk practically threw himself back into his home. Though wordless, thousands of things he desperately wished to ask crossed his mind. Unfortunately, there was no who, what, where, or why to be answered, only left with confusion as the blazing sky of stars seeped in through the still-open window. Try as the tinkerer may to step away, even turn and run, from the expanding mass of sparkling darkness that enveloped the room- It outpaced him easily. 

Shutting his eyes, Shulk could only feel his heart stop for just a moment as his warm home was overrun by the cold embrace of space. Though the fear had paralyzed him in his tracks, his body remained unharmed, and any breath still able to function in this vast expanse, and… He was still even standing on solid ground. Prying his eyes open momentarily, the blonde was met with the gorgeous and terrifying sight of space surrounding him. It was oddly familiar, in a way that made his body wrought with despair and adrenaline. He would have darted off, if it wasn’t for the fact that his body was frozen from the heavy intake of this new situation. What had happened to his home? Was he alone? How did his home- if it wasn’t just some mirage- end up here? His mind raced as fast as he wished his legs would, yet none of his muscles could muster a movement.

“Startled? I was, too, when I discovered this place still very much existed.”

Shulk wasn’t sure if the voice or the environment he was trapped within had caused more of the fear that wracked his body, yet his eyes darted about in the starry void around him, body finally moving for the purpose of observation. 

“Please, dear Shulk, no need to be alarmed. I can no longer bring you harm because of you and that… No longer existent blade.”

“Z-... Zanza?!”

The words fell from the tinkerer’s mouth before he could form the proper way to speak. Rather, a tinge of anger fell through his fears. Zanza shouldn’t exist, so how could he be speaking to him? There was no pin-pointable location within his voice- Was this some sort of telepathy? “Show yourself! I’m- I’m not afraid of you! I’ve defeated you once, I can- I can do it again!”

There was a heavy sigh from within Shulk’s own mind, one of disappointment and slight annoyance. Even so, his wish was granted, and a flash of golden light displayed before Shulk. It radiated a great amount of Ether, but nothing next to the final battle with Zanza once withheld. In fact, it was… More to the amount that Melia could manipulate, if he could make any comparison- even if it was somewhat of an understatement. As soon as it appeared, the blinding glimmer of light faded, leaving who could only assumed to be Zanza in its place. Though, rather than the extravagant gilded outfit he was known to adorn, the ex-God held the appearance of a young researcher. He couldn’t have looked more than a year or two older than Shulk, though that didn’t make his appearance any less of a fright to peer upon. 

“Are you happy now, rebel?” Zanza spoke with less grandiose than usual, opting for a softer tone, one that was complemented by the way he withheld himself. Graceful, yet not at all formal. “And before you ask, allow me to explain.” Though Shulk was visibly hesitant to dare listen, let alone comply, there was a nod from the younger that was met with a smile. It seemed almost fragile, his expression of joy that felt the smallest bit genuine. The mechanic wouldn’t dare trust this ex-deity, but there was something here that was never there in the midst of other meetings. 

A deep breath was heaved from Zanza, one that clearly of not wishing to explain, yet here he is. “I should be dead. That is clear to both of us. A slice right through my being, one that should have killed me… Somehow, I had escaped that fate.” Shulk’s mouth fell slightly agape. He wasn’t sure if his form was filled with shock or anger, though there was no way to rule out if it was one, the other, both, or even neither. 

The older continued, grimacing at the expression that was placed upon him for speaking the reality of it all. “I heard from Alvis, you had wished for a world without Gods, precisely what I had become… Yet, here I stand before you. I escaped that fate, breaking it apart just as you and your rag-tag group once did, and…” Zanza shook his head, giving a moment to himself to brush away the golden locks that had fallen over his face. “I am no longer a God, but due to my circumstances, there is still a portion of me leftover from before I had done what caused my ascension.”

“-Klaus.”

The amount of surprise that displayed itself across Zanza’s face at such a name was, in and of itself, a surprise. “Don’t call me that. Please.” Desperation wasn’t hidden well, as his discomfort with such a name hadn’t left him enough for a proper refutation of its existence. “That is no longer who I am. To you, I am Zanza. The part of what remains after all that you and Alvis has done may have left me in the state where I was once considered ‘Klaus’, yet…” A shake of the head, followed by an expression of… Regret? Could someone so vile feel such a thing? “Pay no mind to it. I, Zanza, survived something that fate has deemed impossible. Even a God’s intuition wasn’t enough to predict this. So now, here I am, before you with Alvis’ permission to ask of you…”

A step forward was all that the researcher took with an outstretched hand, yet Shulk stepped back in a defensive stance. The softening of Zanza’s expression was a sight to behold. Lowering his hand, he found it clutched when it found itself back to his side. “...if I had survived, there had to have been some part of me that went against my own Godhood. So, as that small portion that remains, the portion that is my ‘blasphemous’ form… I would like to return to your world.”   
“The world that you made, godless yet somehow still perfect, I wish to join you and make up for all that I had done…” Zanza’s hand was offered out again, though now Shulk gave nothing more than a stare at it- shifting up to the ex-god himself as his words continued. “Trust me or not, Alvis will ensure I cause no deity-esque troubles, but… I wholeheartedly accept your decision if you choose to reject the idea.”

A beat of silence was left between the two as Shulk attempted to process all that he had been handed. His hand was already full, and throwing more into his hold only caused such troublesome cards to spill over. The mechanic pondered, eyes falling to the spatial ground beneath them both, gazing upon the glowing stars and planets. Within his sight, he saw a star snuffed out. It would soon burst into something anew, whether that be a black hole or a white dwarf. “What will happen to you,” Shulk began with a tinge of apprehensiveness staining his voice, “if I were to reject your offer, what would happen to you?” 

“...You have no need to worry yourself with it, Shulk, I do not wish for it to alter your deci-”

“Tell me, Zanza.” The stern inflection in the blonde’s voice was not one that Zanza had expected, but nevertheless, he wouldn’t resist if it was asked for.   
“I… I will remain here, among the stars, waiting until I either become Ether or find some other universe to lay myself within. The odds of finding another place that would dare accept me is slim, but-” Ah, he’s saying too much, “-but don’t dare let that influence your decision.”

“Influence? Why, I had already made up my mind.” No, no he hadn’t. It was a bold-faced lie, but one to hide the fact that this new information he held wouldn’t let him dare let Zanza go. If he really was changed, leaving him here would burn itself into his consciousness for years- decades- to come. Plus, Alvis would never dare let someone dangerous back into the world he and his friends had struggled for so long, so hard, to achieve. Alvis never fell to bribes or begs without reason (or the ability to overpower who he was dealing with), after all. “I… I will let you in. Only this once. If you cause a mess, me and my friends will never hesitate to bring you down once again.”

“Uh, ‘my friends and I’, Shulk.” 

A sigh came from the younger and a laugh from the older. This was no place for mucking about with simple corrections, yet it wasn’t too much of an irritation to change the mechanic’s decision. Shulk reached out his hand to meet Zanza’s, walking forward the short distance that kept them apart. The two met, holding hands firmly in the expanse of space. And, in a blink, the spatial surroundings sunk away back into the warm little hovel that Shulk found as his home. In the gentle light of the various lamps set up around the room for perfect luminescence, Shulk could see the stress that had blotched itself over Zanza’s expression, particularly below his darkened, pale blue eyes. He seemed very… Out of it.

As little as Shulk may take care of himself, he will most certainly care for others using the same strategies he neglects towards his own benefit. “Here, let’s get you to bed. You seem incredibly tired.”

“Shulk?”

The younger perked up, looking back at the other as he could hear the stress that seeped into Zanza’s voice. “What is it?” He could feel the grip upon his hand tighten for only a moment. Zanza smiled, though it was incredibly weak, it was the most genuine expression he’d ever seen… In possibly all of his years. 

Though his voice was near silent, as if speaking too loudly would shatter his finally grounded form, Zanza gave forth the words that could have very have choked back, yet let loose for the sake of… Well… Feeling what he hasn’t been able to in what felt to be- and what likely was- eons.

“Thank you… Sincerely, I thank you.”


End file.
